


Letters in Possession

by cyrene



Series: Zutara Week 2018 [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Possession - A. S. Byatt
Genre: Background Femslash, F/F, F/M, Gen, I Ship It, If You Squint - Freeform, but still not kataang, fusion with Possession, technically canon compliant, which is a really good movie btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 22:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15496608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyrene/pseuds/cyrene
Summary: Everyone knows their history. But can we really ever know a person's life?Ph.D candidate Ayame Chika has found something remarkable in an old book: a letter from Fire Lord Zuko I to Lady Katara. But how will this secret change what history knows about the world?





	Letters in Possession

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't seen "Possession" or read the book, I highly recommend it. It's pretty awesome.

Tucking a strand of her short black hair behind her ear, Ayame Chika paced outside the office of Dr. Iqniqila Aglakti for a full five minutes before knocking on the door. It had taken her another five before that to gather the courage just to enter the building. She clutched the manila folder she carried to her chest, took a deep breath, and went forward.

 

After a moment, the door opened, though it seemed to take much longer to Aya. On the other side was a short, curvy woman who looked too young to have a position of such importance. She had her brown curls pulled up tight into a perfectly smoothed bun. Her eyes were a startling gold that made Aya's heart thump unexpectedly.

 

“Dr. Aglakti?” she asked, trying not to stare so obviously. “Of the History department?”

 

“Yes, that's me.” Aglakti waved her in impatiently. “I have an appointment, but I have a few minutes before that. What class are you taking?” She took the glasses off her forehead and settled them onto her face. “I don't recognize you.”

 

“No, no class. My name is Ayame Chika?”

 

Aglakti snapped her fingers. “Ah, yes. The grad student from Caldera. You know, you could have just called or e-mailed me your question.”

 

Aya shook her head. “No, I think once you see this, you'll be glad I came down in person. Can we talk privately?”

 

Dr. Aglakti's face was one part amusement and one part annoyance as she gestured Aya into her office. “What's all this about?” she asked.

 

Aya looked around the office, but there wasn't much to see. Everything was completely tidy in a way that made it hard for Aya to focus on anything. She gestured to a framed portrait on the wall.

 

“Is that an original?” she asked, a little in awe.

 

“Yes,” Dr. Aglakti beamed with pride. “It was passed down through my family, and I snatched it up. I'm Lady Katara's niece, thrice removed.”

 

“So you're Southern Water Tribe royalty.” As if Aya hadn't already been intimidated enough.

 

“Technically,” Dr. Aglakti shrugged. “I'm the great-great-great-granddaughter of Chief Sokka. It's not as though I'm in line for the throne or anything. I'm the descendant of my namesake, Lady Iqniqila.”

 

“I'm afraid I don't know much about Water Tribe lineage,” Aya admitted.

 

Aglakti raised an eyebrow. “Lord Sokka's only daughter was a bastard, if you'll pardon my language. Speaking of pardoning me, I'm afraid I don't understand what you're doing here, Ms. Chika.”

 

“I need to know what you know about the connection between Fire Lord Zuko I and Lady Katara.”

 

“Aside from the obvious, you mean? Aside from the fact that they helped Avatar Aang save the world, and were lifelong friends?”

 

“About that... I was in the library,” Aya began...

 

 

*

 

 

They had just got in a copy of Animal Life in Cold Climates, which was probably about as interesting as it sounded. The only reason Aya was down there was that the book had belonged to Fire Lord Zuko I, who had a tendency to write notes in the margins of his books, or on little slips of paper stuck between the pages. There was a chance this book contained something interesting.

 

It was an old book, obviously, but it had that lovely old book smell that Aya loved. The spine made a cracking noise when she opened it. It had _notes_ in it, in Zuko I's own handwriting, which was pretty exciting stuff. Aya scribbled furiously in her composition notebook. Her handwriting was not as nice as the former Fire Lord's, nor as precise, but she wanted to get down everything she could before the library closed for the night. The librarian had done Aya a huge favor, calling her first about this acquisition, but by tomorrow Akira would know, and descend like the vulture she was to claim any real discovery as her own.

 

Aya only had a precious few hours, and she did not intend to waste one minute of them. She did not stop to eat or drink, so she would not need the restroom. She just read, and wrote.

 

Then, at a seemingly inconspicuous place in the book, Aya came upon a piece of stationary. She read over it once, twice, and once more just to be sure she wasn't dreaming. Aya hardly knew what to do about the document she held in her hands. But she knew she had to act. That simpering “Oh, darling, call me Kiki!” wasn't about to get this. She would bury it for sure.

 

Aya had to do _something_.

 

 

*

 

 

“What's this?” Iqniqila gingerly took the paper from Ms. Chika's grasp.

 

“It's a letter,” the grad student said, and her voice sounded very far away to her. “It's a letter from Fire Lord Zuko I... to Lady Katara.”

 

“Okay...” Ila didn't understand what she was looking at, but – she looked up in shock. “Wait, Ms. Chika, is this the _original_?!”

 

“Call me Aya,” the other woman said miserably. “Just read it, okay?”

 

Ila sat down behind her impeccably clean – but not clean enough for _this!_ – desk, and placed the paper carefully on its surface.

 

“Who else knows about this?” she demanded when she was done reading.

 

“No one,” Aya admitted. “I tried to tell my adviser, but he blew me off. I thought, with you being an expert on Lady Katara, you might be able to help.”

 

Ila let out her breath in a _whoosh_ – away from the document, not towards it – and smoothed her hair back until it lay flat on her head. “If this is... if this is true, then this is _huge_. This changes everything we know about history. I mean, Lady Katara was absolutely devoted to Avatar Aang. That's basic 101 knowledge. They had three children together! She followed him around the world! And Zuko I –”

 

“Was apparently in love with her,” Aya interrupted, gesturing to the document on the desk.

 

“We need to look into this,” Ila said, her brain going into research mode. “We need to check and recheck every document we can get our hands on. We need to find out if this letter was ever sent, and the letter it refers to.

 

 

*

 

 

<\---------------- writing scratched out or obscured -------------------->

_Dearest Katara,_

 

<\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ obscured> _For the life of me, I cannot understand how I survive to write to you. I walk as a ghost since you left, and my only solace has been_ <\--- _in the memory of that night_ \-----> <\-----------------------------------------obscured --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> _in your last letter. Tell me what to do. Tell me how I can make this right._ <\----------------------------------- three lines obscured --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> _Tell me you'll come to the palace again. I want to feel the waterfall of your hair surrounding my face, blocking out the cruelty of the world and the difficulty of our lives. Even if it's just for one night, please, please come back to me._ <\--------------------------------------------------------obscured>

 

_Ever yours,_

_Zuko_

 

 

*

 

 

_Three weeks later..._

 

Each holding the other's hand tightly, Aya and Ila set out the bundle of letters Lady Katara had hidden away from the world in the false bottom of a doll bed, kept in her rooms in the South Pole. No one had ever read these before; indeed, it was only by Ila's brilliance they had found them at all. They scribbled in silence, Aya in her composition notebook in pen and Ila on a stack of white lined note cards in pencil.

 

“What now?” Aya asked when they were done.

 

Taking off her glasses, Ila rubbed her face. “I don't know,” she said. “I don't understand, I'll admit it. If Katara cheated on Aang with the Fire Lord...”

 

“Then everything we know about the history of that time is called into question,” Aya finished. “Right here, in this letter from Chief Sokka, what it says about Iqniqila – the other one, I mean –”

 

“I caught that. I don't think she's _his_ illegitimate daughter after all.”

 

The two women looked at each other for a moment in silence, each daring the other to say it first.

 

“My Lady,” Aya said finally. “I think we should get some sleep. We have a lot of explaining to do in the morning.”

 

“Don't call me that,” Ila insisted. “And should we really be telling anyone this? After all, if Lady Katara wanted to, she could have told whomever she wanted. Or Chief Sokka could have. But did they even tell Fire Lord Zuko?”

 

“I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever know. But we have a duty, as historians, to report the truth, don't we?”

 

“Yes,” Ila sounded thoughtful, “but at what cost? What will this do to the Lady's memory, if we report it? What of Zuko I and Avatar Aang? They still have living descendants!”

 

“Come to bed,” Aya urged, dragging Ila up by the hands. “We can figure all this out in the morning.”

 


End file.
